A Christmas Mystery
by SassyDoctor
Summary: When a string of missing people seems to attract the TARDIS to Manchester in England 2015, The Doctor and Clara are forced to stay until they can find out what happened, and stop it happening again. A multi chapter story including some Whouffle mixed in with a big adventure (Rating may change)


**Okay, Hello! SassyDoctor here, I would like to apologize for the shortness of this chapter, for this is just the prologue to introduce you all to the story. I really hope you'd give me all some good reviews and tips so I can work on everything for the next chapter (That I will only be writing if people want me to)**

Hillary Kneen was normally quite a curious girl, most of the time she'd express her emotions while she was on her own, away from any social interactions, but other than that she was quite happy and bouncy. She sipped at her Espresso slowly, making sure she didn't burn her tongue as her eyes flickered from the pile of papers on the table to the large phone book that lay next to them, flicking through the thin pages every so often when she looked at a different piece of paper.

She frowned, an angry and deep frown. She couldn't work anything out, and it was frustrating her beyond belief, the quiet tune of 'Silent Night' playing by request of a rather cheerful customer, to which the café workers quickly and rather happily obliged. That was another thing that seemed to be… ticking her off. They all seemed rather cheerful. Now, don't get me wrong, people were allowed to be happy, it was a few days until Christmas, The 22nd to be precise, but… this wasn't right.

Now, when you go to a Café, the workers there won't be all grins and sing-songy voices unless

they've been there for, like, a day. yet these were all just so happy and so… so… jolly that it just

made you want to pull your hair out after ten minutes. Hillary scowled, her eyes slowly going back to

the papers.

'Missing; Michael Warren, last seen; Carrie's Cake Café, (Picture) Call following number(s) if

seen' She'd picked this up ages ago, it was a slightly messy piece of paper with bent and crumpled

edges. 'Missing; Lisa-Marie Gold, last seen; Carrie's Cake Café, (Picture) Call following number(s) if

seen' This was in a slightly better condition than Michael's file, but still messy-looking. 'Missing;

Tisha Shay, last seen; Carrie's Cake Café, (Picture) Call following number(s) if

seen' again, newer, but she never seemed to have the ability to keep things in a perfect condition

'Missing; George Moss, last seen; Carrie's Cake Café, (Picture) Call following number(s) if

seen' Now, this one had obviously been recent, as only a few creases from where she'd folded it

ruined the white sheet 'Missing; Robin Carr, last seen; Carrie's Cake Café, (Picture) Call following

number(s) if seen' She'd picked this one up on the way in, it had been on the usual lamp post with

three duplicates.

She chewed on her lip, a thing she would normally do when she was thinking. No connections in the

names, no seen connections in the pictures, she'd called each number, no connections at all to each

other! The only thing that went wrong was the fact that they were in the same place. Right here.

She glanced around, as if she expected some mad man with a bag sneak up behind her and pull her

Away too, never to be seen again. The oldest one had been a month ago, they had all still been happening up to today, so… she still had the chance to solve the case.

Pursing her lips, she got up, packing everything away into her bag and taking a deep breath, gathering all of her confidence before striding up to the lineless desk, looking at the tall man that grinned back at her "And, how may we help you today, Ma'am?" He purred "We hope everything was to your liking, we hate it when our favourite customers are unsatisfied" He added, she on the other hand resisted rolling her eyes

"Actually, I was hoping you could… well, show me around back. The kitchen and stuff" She murmured "F-for health and safety" She stammered the lie as he frowned for the first time "Sorry to ask, could I see your I.D?" He almost spat the words out at her and her eyes widened at the sudden change of mood "Oh… eh… I left it… at my house. Okay. Sorry, I'll be back another day, could you direct me to the bathrooms?" She scrambled lightly on her words, letting her eyes flicker around nervously. Getting kicked out for lying wouldn't be a good option "Ah, that way, Ma'am" She followed his hand slowly and pushed into the bathroom, sighing as she looked at herself in the mirror.

She reached a hand to push a loose strand of black hair behind her ear, her shoulders drooping as she looked down at her plump body. She managed to shrug it off this time, pulling out a file to jot 'Fake I.D' down quickly on a make-shift To-Do list.

It was then, that Hillary Kneen looked up into the slightly dusty and smudged bathroom mirror, focusing only on herself for a minute, before her eyes flickered to the movement of the stall behind her.

A bang of a door.

A scream

m

Silence. Peace.


End file.
